Court dismisses application by ‘blue lights’ corruption accused to bar media coverage

News media may continue to cover the ongoing ‘blue lights’ corruption case relating to R27 million that was allegedly defrauded from Sars and Treasury between 2016 and 2019, as well as a R191 million police contract with major red flags.

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On Monday, the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court postponed the case against Vimpie Phineas Tlalefang Manthata, his company and two others, to 30 July for them to study the case docket that was provided by the state prior to the matter being set for trial.

Reputation at stake

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Henry Mamothame said Manthata’s attorney made an application to court to issue an order for the media to abstain from reporting about the case, as it causes significant damage to his reputation as a businessman who operates internationally.

His co-accused, Daniel Rothman, made a similar application through his attorney, arguing that he is a well known bookkeeper who runs an accounting practice.

The Investigating Directorate’s(ID) senior state advocate, Tilas Chabalala, argued against these applications, highlighting that the media has a right to freedom of expression in this case as it represents the general public interest.

He argued that published media reports had objective facts about the case, showing no evidence that the accused were defamed. The court agreed with the state and dismissed these applications.

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Misrepresented tax returns

Manthata is facing charges of fraud and contravention of the Tax Administration Act, during the 2016/2017 and 2018/2019 tax assessment period, to which Sars and the National Treasury allegedly lost more than R27 million through misrepresented tax returns.

He is charged with his company, Instrumentation for Traffic Law Enforcement; Judy Rose, who is employed as a tax practitioner in the company; and Daniel Rothman, a registered tax practitioner providing services to the company.

The three individuals are out on R10 000 bail each.

Blue lights corruption case

The broader matter relates to a contract to supply emergency warning equipment for Saps in 2016.  

The contract was worth R191m. And, R65m was paid to Instrumentation for Traffic Law enforcement, but a further payment of R22m was stopped, as a result of the investigation into the deal by the NPA’s Investigating Directorate (ID) and Ipid highlighting fraud and corruption.

Additional reporting by Faizel Patel.

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